The present invention relates to centrifuges, and more particularly to apparatus for supporting the buckets of a swinging bucket centrifuge rotor.
A swinging bucket centrifuge typically includes a rotor and a plurality of buckets supported by hangers that enable the buckets to pivot about their mounting axes. When the rotor is stopped, the buckets hang vertically downward under the influence of gravity. When the rotor is spinning, the buckets swing outward in reponse to centrifugal force to a horizontal position.
In a number of designs, the hanger incorporates some means to enable limited radial movement of the buckets when the rotor is spinning. This is so the bucket can become engaged with a portion of the rotor to gain support against the centrifugal force acting on it. Thus, with the load transferred to the rotor, the hangers are relieved of the burden of withstanding the heavy G force being exerted on the buckets. An obvious benefit of such an arrangement is that the hangers can be made smaller and lighter, and the rotor can be made more compact and inexpensively.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,118 issued to Sinn et al. there is disclosed a centrifuge having buckets pivotally mounted to a rotor. The pivot axis of each bucket is movable along a guide track so that upon pivoting deflection, the buckets bear against a circumferential ring portion of the rotor. A possible disadvantage of this design is that it makes no provision for rapid detachment of the bucket from the rotor. This precludes operation with preloaded interchangeable buckets such as is practiced in production laboratories.
Another disadvantage of the disclosed design is that the buckets are prone to rock about their pivots, so that during loading and unloading operations, the operator must use one hand to hold the bucket steady.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a hanger device for use in the rotor of a centrifuge which overcomes the problems of the prior art.